Lakeside voters approve 3 Columbia area dam referendums

Homeowners in three Richland County lakefront neighborhoods voted by strong margins on Tuesday to pay higher taxes to repair dams whose virtual or near destruction last year threatened the future of the lakes and reduced homeowners’ property values.

The dams, on Beaver Lake, Cary Lake and Lower Rockyford Lake, were damaged by last fall’s historic floods. Since then, the once-beautiful Cary and Lower Rockford lakes have drained to near dry, leaving unsightly mud and grassy flats. Beaver Lake still stands but is threatened by a weakened dam.

The question on the ballot for the three elections was whether lakefront property owners wanted to create special tax districts and tax themselves to repair the privately owned dams damaged by the floods.

“This is wonderful,” James Adams, president of the Cary Lake Homeowners’ Association, said in a telephone interview Tuesday night after the results were in. “This is a fair plan and a good plan.”

All 58 people voting in the Cary Lake election voted for the special tax districts, according to unofficial results by the Richland County Voter Registration and Elections Board.

Other results:

▪ Beaver Lake. 49 people voted yes; two people voted no.

▪ Lower Rockyford Lake. 27 people voted yes; there were no negative votes.

Turnout for each of the votes was moderately high – 50 percent or more. But the referendums are binding on everyone on the lakeshore.

Besides repairs, money raised by the special tax districts will go to pay for yearly upkeep on the dams. The neighbors will borrow money jointly from a lender, and Richland County will collect higher property taxes to pay off the loans.

At least 23 dams, virtually all privately owned, failed across Richland County during record rain last October. Preliminary estimates are that repairs at each dam will cost from $500,000 to $1 million.

“Each of the dams have roads over them, and the roads can’t be reopened until the dams are repaired,” said state Rep. Beth Bernstein, D-Richland.

Richland County poll workers staffed each of the four precincts participating.

“If I had to describe the traffic flow, I would say it is very slow,” said Nathan Scott, a pollworker at Cooper precinct at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, said at about 4 p.m.

But, Scott said, people are taking the issue seriously. “One man said he wanted his lake back because right now it looks like a field, nothing but green vegetation.”

By shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, only 17 people out of 30 registered at Cooper had voted.

County elections board member Peter Kennedy visited all four open precincts for the three referendums on Tuesday.

“Turnout has not been high, but some precincts only had maybe 30 people that were going to vote,” Kennedy said while visiting the North Trenholm Road precinct at North Trenholm Baptist Church, one of two precincts where people were voting on a proposed tax district around Cary Lake.

In any case, Kennedy said, “It’s good training for November, when it (the presidential election) is really going to be a long day.”

The exact amount of money property owners would pay is to be determined. Federal and state aid is unlikely for repairs that might include rebuilding privately owned dams.

The new property assessments will be included in tax bills mailed this fall.

In June, property owners around the Upper Rockyford dam the Forest Acres area became the first neighborhood to vote to tax themselves for dam repairs.

“This is good news, not only for the people who live on the lake, but also for the people who live nearby and enjoy the lakes’ benefits,” said State Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Richland.

This story was originally published August 23, 2016 at 9:34 PM.